Manjhan's Madhumalati and the Construction of Indo–Islam

Asian Philosophies and Religions RELIGION IN HISTORY Manjhan’s Madhumalati and the Construction of Indo–Islam By Nita Verma Prasad Lovers shoot at a tiger in the jungle. Illustration to the Sufi text Madhumalati. Source: Wikimedia Commons at https://tinyurl.com/wowlhdj. n today’s geopolitical environment, teaching South Asia can be somewhat of a sticky wicket, particularly when it comes to religion and communalism. Each time I discuss Hindu–Muslim relations in an introductory course on South Asia or in a 100-level world history class, I run up Iagainst a whole host of preconceived notions on religion in the non-Western world. Worse yet, most students are unaware that our modern understanding of religion can’t be projected backward. How- ever, a properly contextualized discussion of Hindu–Muslim relations in South Asia not only gives students a deeper comprehension of the region, but also illustrates how, when viewed through the lens of history, seemingly timeless institutions like religion can take on meanings and forms that our twenty-first-century minds could never imagine. I have found literature from the Mughal Era to be invaluable in imparting these lessons.While multiple translated texts are available, Madhumalati by Mir Sayyid Manjhan Rajgiri (trans. Adi- tya Behl and Simon Weightman) is readily accessible as an Oxford paperback.1 Moreover, its six- teen-page prologue—a length easily digestible by early undergraduates and high school students alike—is packed with evidence of the syncretic blending of Hinduism and Islam, or Indo–Islam, that was underway during the Mughal period (1526–1707). The composite nature of religious practice in Mughal India is a well-established fact among most historians, but is nonetheless politically con- tested terrain, as Hindu nationalist scholars and politicians prefer to depict the Mughals as foreign invaders who oppressed Hindus and converted with the sword. While most students are blissfully ignorant of this controversy, instructors should recognize that texts like Madhumalati, which reflect the indigenization of Islam on the subcontinent, speak to this deeply politicized discourse. A care- ful reading of Madhumalati’s prologue, followed by informed classroom discussion, highlights the religious syncretism prevalent in premodern India, and also provides a critical lens on the nature of governance in the Turco–Mongol empires. 48 Education About ASIA Volume 25, Number 1 Spring 2020 49 Asian Philosophies and Religions The Text and Its Context Madhumalati is an epic poem written in 1545, at a time when the Mughal Empire was still struggling to establish itself on the Indian subcontinent. The Mughals faced multiple threats from local dynas- ties and, in fact, ceded control of their kingdom for a short while (1540–1555) to Sher Shah Suri, an Afghan general. During this period, the Afghans continued to generously patronize local artists, as the two Mughal emperors, Babur and Humanyun, had done before them. One of these artists was Manjhan, the Sufi poet who penned Madhumalati from the court of the Afghan ruler Islam Shah. Sufis, as I tell my students, are a bit like the “hippies” of the Islamic world; they revel in music and poetry, dance until they’re dizzy (the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey are Sufis), and drink freely. Sufism is a mystical form of Islam that rejects the more rigid, orthodox, and legalistic elements of the religion in favor of a personal connection with God. It’s not a sect or denomination, like Sunni or Shia, but rather an approach, adopted by both Sunni and Shia alike. By Manjhan’s time, Sufism had become deeply rooted in the Indian landscape. Sufism is a mystical form of Islam that rejects the more rigid, orthodox, and legalistic elements of the religion in favor of a personal connection with God. Mughal Emperor Akbar shows deference to Sufi Saint Sheikh Salim Chishti. Source: Wikimedia Commons at https://tinyurl.com/vs8qqu9. This mystical strain of Islam had initially developed in the eighth century CE in the area that is now lower Iraq as a reaction to the extravagant wealth and opulence of the Abbasid caliphate (750–1258). The first Sufis shunned all worldly indulgences; they were true ascetics, taking their name from the coarse wool cloth they wore as they wandered, begging and spreading their teachings. Over the next several centuries, this asceticism was combined with a classical mystical bent. Seeking direct communion between God and man, these early mystics preached the ideal of divine love, or knowing God through love.2 Sufism remained a fairly loose and unstructured movement until the thirteenth century, when the movement underwent far-reaching changes. Different mystical orders began to form, each one under the guidance of a particular shaykh (master). Orders differentiated themselves from one an- other based on their prescribed method of attaining oneness with God; each had a distinct set of spiritual exercises designed to achieve this end, most of which involved ritualized interactions with music, dance, poetry, and ascetic practice.3 It was in this phase that Sufism made its way to India, when in the early 1200s, the Chisti order was established in Delhi. By the fifteenth century, the Shat- tari order, to which Manjhan belonged, had become codified in India as well.4 The Shattaris quickly forged ties with the Afghans after their rise to power, and Manjhan thus found himself in the court of Islam Shah as a spiritual instructor and poet. It was there, in the early 1540s, that he wrote Mad- humalati.5 This epic poem, like so much of the literature produced by Sufis, is a love story in which the hero, Prince Manohar, finds but then loses his true love, Madhumalati. After wandering for a year disguised as a Hindu yogi, Manohar finds Madhumalati, and the two are ultimately reunited. Their 48 Education About ASIA Volume 25, Number 1 Spring 2020 49 Asian Philosophies and Religions Manjhan’s Islam is a wholly Indian form of Islam; it has become indigenized, adopting various motifs, beliefs, and worldviews from Hindu Indian culture. story embodies the familiar themes of desire, separation, and love that run through most Sufi ro- mances, where the relationship between the lovers is meant to mimic the relationship between the Sufi devotee and God. Manohar thus represents the ideal Sufi, who suffers through a wandering life of asceticism on his quest to find true beauty and love (God). The Text and Indo–Islam Thankfully, students needn’t get bogged down in the exploits of Manohar and his beloved. While the main text of Madhumalati highlights the cultural amalgam of the times, the prologue is a short yet intense read that does the same. Manjhan’s prologue adheres to the literary conventions of the genre: in it, he thanks his spiritual guides and political sponsors, and praises God. As he goes about these tasks, Manjhan, like other Sufi poets, effortlessly folds Hindu concepts into an Islamic framework, thus underscoring the religious syncretism of the time. At first glance, students encounter a narrative structure that emphasizes the Islamic roots of the author; this is apparent from the section subheadings in the prologue. The first section, for instance, is titled “In Praise of God,” and it seems that for Manjhan, this god is singular: “He is one, there is no other.”6 While Hindu scripture sometimes addresses its many gods similarly, numerous allusions to Qur’anic verse sprinkled throughout this section forcefully suggest Islamic monotheism at work here.7 The next section, titled “In Praise of Muhammad,” continues to build on the Islamic framework. Here, students learn of the Prophet Muhammad’s centrality to the religion. Muhammad is hailed as the “Lamp of Creation,” which, as explained in the annotations, is a reference to the Islamic belief that Muhammad was bathed in divine light during the first revelation.8 The rest of the section carries on in this manner, praising the Prophet, founder of the Islamic religion: “Muhammad is the root, the whole world a branch.”9 Likewise, the third section of the prologue, “In Praise of the Four Caliphs,” celebrates the most important leaders of the umma, or early Islamic community: Now listen while I tell of [Muhammad’s] four companions, the givers of doctrine, truth, and justice. The first was Abu Bakr, the Proof, who accepted as truth the words of Muhammad. The second was Umar, the king of justice: he left father and son for the work of God. The third, Usman, knew the secrets of scripture. The fourth was the Lion Ali, the virtuous, who conquered the world by the grace of his sword. They held the original scripture as truth, accepting nothing else.10 Students unfamiliar with Islamic history can rely on the exhaustive notes, which familiarize them with the iconic figures mentioned above: these early rulers assumed leadership of the umma after the death of the Prophet and thus occupy a special place in Islamic history, somewhat akin to how Americans view the Founding Fathers. Digging a bit deeper into these sections, students continue to find references to Muslim scripture and lore, such as the famous Qur’anic passage the Surat-a-Nur, or the Verse of Light, which establishes Allah as the source of all light.11 Interestingly, I can always tell which students have just flipped through the prologue, reading only the various subheadings—those are the students who argue that Madhumalati’s author is unequivocally Muslim. However, students who read a bit more carefully are confronted with the undeniable presence of Hinduism in the text; it’s not subtle to those paying attention. It shows us that Manjhan’s Islam is a wholly Indian form of Islam; it has become indigenized, adopting various motifs, beliefs, and worldviews from Hindu Indian culture.

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